The Economic Impact of Long Island’s Immigrant Workers

There are some 293,000 immigrant workers on Long Island, and according to a new study there is little evidence to suggest that their presence harms U.S.-born workers.

A study released Wednesday by the Fiscal Policy Institute found that more than half of immigrant workers on Long Island hold white-collar jobs. Far from harming their U.S.-born counterparts, data in the study strongly suggests that immigrant workers have played a part in economic growth for the region between 1990 and 2007 — the period analyzed in the study.

Without a boost from immigration, the population on Long Island might have declined over the last 20 years, argues David Dyssegaard Kallick, the director of the Immigration Research Initiative at FPI, a think-tank that looks at fiscal and economic issues. “The number of U.S.-born Long Islanders in prime working age — 16 to 64 years old — dropped by almost 100,000,” he points out. “Immigrants increased by 139,000.”

Metropolis asked Kallick to explain the role the immigrant work force — including undocumented workers — plays in Long Island’s economy.

Metropolis:Your study found that immigrants living on Long Island don’t quite fit the popular image of unskilled workers.

Kallick: There’s a general misconception about immigration and the kinds of jobs immigrants do. On Long Island, 53% of immigrants work in white-collar jobs. That’s actually not so untypical. In most of the 25 largest metro areas, the majority of immigrants work in white-collar areas.

Metropolis: Is that because immigrants living on Long Island are demographically different than those elsewhere in the U.S.?

Kallick: Immigrants are much more diverse than people recognize. It’s a mixture. Often when people think about immigrants, they think about low-wage Mexican workers who have just come across the border. And that is of course an important part of immigration in the U.S., but it’s hardly the whole picture.